The startup, founded in January 2001, started beta testing the VSG product last August and completed the trials a couple months ago. Today, the company claims it has already signed up more than 10 partners in the U.S., Canada, and Europe (though it couldn't tell us their names), and says it is currently in talks with a potential channel partner in Korea as well. FibreStream also says it has landed one customer: Risdall Advertising Agency, based in New Brighton, Minn. That company did not return our calls by press time.
"Our focus is on building channel relations -- not direct end-user sales," says Dahlin.
FibreStream CEO Donovan Pederson says the startup employs 12 people, half of whom are engineers. In addition to Pederson, the company's management team includes CFO Tom Von Kuster and CTO Frank Artner, who formerly worked at Ancor Communications (acquired by QLogic Corp. [Nasdaq: QLGC]).
So what's FibreStream's differentiation? (Clearly, it's not the size of its staff.) While some might be skeptical that a teeny-tiny fledgling company can succeed in a space already clotted with competition, Pederson insists that the company's new product has the quality -- and especially a price -- that will allow it to grab a chunk of the market. The list price for a VSG with 1 Tbyte of storage is $21,245, while a VSG without disk storage costs $16,450.
"We have been operating in stealth for some time to make sure that our product is competitive... and that it works," he says. "We feel very confident that we've ended up with a product with very universal applicability at a fraction of the price offered by our competitors."
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